Emission Credits

Yes, our world often gets sillier every day ... but here is a doozy:

The US EPA has set overall emission gasses objectives for car manufactures’ fleets ... in order to reduce greenhouse gasses and reduce global warming. And apparently manufacturers who do better than their emissions objectives can sell their excesses (credits) to other auto makers so that they can meet theirs. Enter Tesla ... whose electric cars obviously have zero emissions ... so it has oodles of emission credits to peddle. Chrysler builds lots of big SUVs ... therefore has trouble meeting is fleet emission goals ... so it is spending hundreds of million dollars to buy them from Tesla, see: Buying Emissions Credits.

Inane? Of course! Ridiculous? Sure! Sony’s televisions also emit no greenhouse gasses, so why isn’t Sony also able to sell emission credits to car manufacturers? Or Hershey with zero emissions from its candy bars? Whoever wrote that EPA rule had to have been a blooming idiot!

Pulling the Tiger’s Tail

The United States government (FBI) rapidly concluded that it was North Korea that had hacked into Sony’s computers in retaliation for producing the picture, “The Interview,” which spoofs the leader of that country, Kim Jong-un. Now many cyber-security firms have expressed reservations about that conclusion … saying that it more likely was a combination of a disgruntled ex-employee colluding with a hacking group … see: Politico Analysis. This conclusion seems supported by additional hacks into Sony’s Playstation servers on Christmas day by a group self-labeled the “Lizard Squad.”

If it eventually turns out that the original hack was NOT performed by the North Koreans, the United States intelligence community has egg on its face (again) … which then spawns three possibly serious consequences:

1)     President Obama, in his very public rush to judgment in this case, may end up being made to look as foolish as George W. Bush. (Remember how many years the media drumbeat went on … accusing Bush 43 of lying to the world about Iraq’s WMDs?)

2)     It is fairly obvious that the United States, in retaliation, has crippled the North Korean Internet … twice. This is a serious piece of cyber-aggression against an unstable government that likely possesses atomic weapons. Talk about pulling the tiger’s tail.

3)     In taking down North Korea’s Internet, I am certain that the U.S. cyber counter forces have revealed to the Chinese and Russians technical capabilities that might have been left for more serious cyber-attacks against this country’s infrastructure. To me, it is questionable whether such counter-measures might now work when they are more critically needed.

Will the American media now excoriate luau-boy for his too-quick accusation of North Korea in this matter? Hmmm?

New Year's Resolutions

In the ensuing year I will endeavor to do (or not do) the following:

- Give President Obama the benefit of the doubt ... once

- Don't join any organization that beheads people

- Thank a cop for his/her service

- Not fly on any Far East airlines

- Stop rooting for the Red Sox

- Write a blog that makes the world a tiny bit better

- Steer clear of posting or reading social media

- Never watch the SONY movie "The Interview"

- Laugh more often, particularly at myself

- Stop commenting on Kim Kardashian's monster derrière

The Grayest Lady

The New York Times can publish the deepest, darkest of our national secrets without the slightest compunction ... but, when it comes to hacked salacious e-mails between two SONY executives, it's reporters cannot even view them on-line unless they have been previously exposed by some other publication. How hypocritical can the Gray Lady get? Today on "Morning Joe" a reporter from the Times revealed that the lawyers there have forbade any its reporters from being the initial revealers of any of this hacked SONY information.

Perhaps, if the Sony execs were discussing how the U.S. was uncovering Al Qaeda operations, then things would be OK?

Gored Oxen

Sony's corporate computers have been hacked and hacked badly ... revealing oodles of embarrassing information about their operations ... scripts, private and scurrilous e-mails, actors' salaries, Social Security numbers, actual copies of unreleased movies, etc. ... see: Hollywood Reporter Story.

The famous tinsel-town writer, Aaron Sorkin, had an op-ed yesterday in the New York Times saying that the American media's releasing of many of these revelations is "morally treasonous." ... see: New York Times Op-Ed. I find it quite revealing that such a comment is forthcoming from a media mogul ... because I am certain that, if the shoe were on the other foot,  Hollywood would reveal and revel in any disclosures that they could make about the rest of our media empire.

Everything is kosher unless and until it is your ox that is being gored.